The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries is an oil-on-canvas portrait by Jacques-Louis David, signed and dated 1812, measuring 203.9 × 125.1 cm and held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington (Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.15).

The painting was not an official French commission. It was ordered by a Scottish admirer of Napoleon, Alexander, Marquis of Douglas, later 10th Duke of Hamilton, and David listed it among his works as a full-length portrait of the Emperor in his study, painted for England. It is unlikely that Napoleon posed for it. The picture hung at Hamilton Palace until the Hamilton Palace sale at Christie's in 1882, passed to the earls of Rosebery, was sold through Wildenstein to the Kress Foundation in 1954 and was given to the National Gallery in 1961.

Napoleon stands at three-quarters life size in the uniform of a colonel of the Foot Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, blue with white facings and red cuffs, wearing the Legion of Honour and the Order of the Iron Crown, his right hand tucked into his waistcoat. The details tell a story of a night spent at work: the candles have burned low, the clock reads 4:13, his hair is ruffled, his stockings wrinkled and his cuffs unbuttoned, and on the chair lies a scroll on which the letters of the word Code, for the Napoleonic Code, can be read. The sword on the chair recalls his campaigns, while the bees and fleurs-de-lis suggest the stability of the dynasty. The image presents him as a civil lawgiver rather than the conqueror of David's Napoleon Crossing the Alps. David signed the work on a rolled paper on the floor, LVD.CI DAVID OPVS 1812.

Examination of the canvas shows that David reworked the setting several times, replacing two fluted columns flanking the figure with a carved panel and the tall clock. He also painted a repetition in which the clock shows 4:00 and Napoleon wears the green uniform of the Chasseurs à cheval of the Guard.